After years of discord around the issue of gay members in the Boy Scouts of America, a new organization called Trail Life USA has formed as a home for those who disagree with the recent decision to allow openly gay Scouts.

In a press release issued on Saturday, the group states that it was founded to “counter the ‘moral free fall’ of the nation, and raise a generation of faithful husbands, fathers, citizens and leaders.” It adds, “The genesis of the new group was the [Boy Scouts of America] leadership’s closely watched decision in May to change its membership policy and admit youth regardless of their sexual orientation or sexual preference.”

Over the weekend more than 1,200 people from 44 states met in Nashville, according to NBC News, to unveil the name and logo of the new group and celebrate the launch of the organization.

Though the group requires adult leaders to be nongay and Christian, Trail Life USA says it will be inclusive of boys without regard for religion, race, national origin or socioeconomic status, and will even “accept boys who are experiencing same-sex attractions or gender confusion.” Boys who are openly homosexual, who are not “biologically male” or “who wish to dress and act like girls” are not welcome.

They want to have their own camping organization? So what; let them enjoy it. As far as I know, we are guaranteed freedom of association in this country. If someone else wants to start a camping group for gay youth, you can support them if you want to. Or don't if you don't want to. I grew up in the Boy Scouts in the 70s. It was a great organization just the way it was. It was sponsored by a church. I made a lot of friends. We camped out in the woods, had great adult leaders and had a lot of fun. I hope the scouting experience stays the same for boys today.

What happened to youth activities keeping personal things personal. Why do we need to know if people are hetrosexual or homosexual? Its inappropriate to bring up sexuality period. Focus on the youth activities and keep sex and sexuality out of it. I don't like the idea of sending my son on an unaccompanied camping trip with an organization that supports open gay youth policies. Sorry, I just don't think it is a good idea for youth. Adult venues are something different.

Trail Life USA is only free from the pressures of groups that hate everyone that is not like minded.

We are open to ALL boys of ALL faiths, but the leadership will be teaching from a Christian world view.

Why do non-Catholics go to a Catholic School... Its a good education.

BSA changed its stance on moral issues. Many leaders in BSA, though troubled by the decision, respected the right of the organization to do so and left. How does this reflect bigotry? If anything the bigots are those who could not stand a group of people holding to a moral standard and held cooperate dollars over their head until they caved.

You will also note that the only ones saying anything about being anti-gay are the pro-homosexual groups. Trail Life USA is not anti-anything, you will find no list in our membership policy saying who cannot join. We are a pro-morality organization and have a set of standards that if you agree to your are welcome to join. If you do not agree then their are other organizations you can be apart of.

The only anti-groups here are the ones lashing out at Trail Life USA for standing up for their beliefs.

Trail Life USA will accept no government funding and no donations with any strings attached.

Freedom of choice is a "good thing", right? Unless it includes a choice the Left doesn't approve of. The Left welcomes any and all opinions, as long as it matches their own. I wish this group all the best.

As well as being "Gay-Free", this new organization would also seem to be "Jew-Free", "Buddhist-Free", "Muslim-Free", "Hindu-Free", and "American Indian-Free" as well. Baden-Powell is probably spinning in the ground at thought this new organization purporting to be vaguely related to the Scouting Movement.

But don't worry, B-P; it, like all of the other dozen BSA imitators over the past century, will be unheard of ten years from now.

OMG ... I've read many comments below and cannot believe this! What is wrong with a truly Christian family sending their child to an organization with similar beliefs? I couldn't find anything that said Trail Life was going to be teaching how to hate gay people. No true Christian hates anyone, but rather loves everyone. We ALL have faults and sin. Christians may not believe a gay persons way of life is right, and they may pray for them to understand God's design, but there is no hatred! I would just like my children exposed to an organization where it's not encouraged or accepted as absolutely fine, but rather taught in a TRUE manner with God in the center of it all.

Are they going to teach them other biblical morals, like selling your daughter into marriage, enslaving other humans, harboring racist attitudes, and murdering your sassy children and unfaithful spouse.

Trail Life isn't and cannot be part of the the World Scouting movement, and thus will be doomed to obscurity, irrelevance or eventual failure, just like numerous other BSA imitators before, such as the American Boy Scouts, The Baden-Powell Scouts, or the Royal Rangers.

Even the mormons who sponsor probably the most scout troops are staying with the BSA - why - Because the guy who should have stopped the murder of Matthew shepard, Russell Henderson, was a mormon and an eagle scout

As for the new group too bad they didnt call it the BSA also - bigot scouts of America The key group opposed to gays in the scouts are the southern baptists / evangelists / some independent chriistian churches

Heirs to slavery per the bible, segregation and of course they have in many ways captured control of the repub parrty and they see Obama as a nightmare come true a black president.

BTW how did the extreme right wingers gain control of the repub party. BAsically, Nixons southern strategy tto take the soucth from the bad dems - dixiecrats to the repubs

HIs assistant in that endeavor was Roger Ailes - head of the repub spin machine - fox news - anti everything that says "obama" on it

A few issues. First of all "Trail Life" is a terrible name. Seriously? That's the best they could come up with. They need some marketing help. Secondly the headline is extremely misleading. This group will NOT be "gay free". It will be a group with gay boys and young men that are scared and miserable. There is a difference.

@markflickner You cannot say they are anti-anything when in the article it clearly says "Boys who are openly homosexual, who are not “biologically male” or “who wish to dress and act like girls” are not welcome."

@ConnieSchwandt I agree, but I think that group is called church or temple, or whatever. I think it would be best if you teach your children about the world and all it's wonderful diversity, don't you? Or you can keep them in your bubble, I guess.

@FrankDorka Molesters come from very religious families where talking about sex, masturbation etc etc are forbidden

Eventually some go bad - their curiousity get the best of them and f they go for kids the age when their natural curiosity and sexual expression eg masturbation was supressed Its called sexual immaturity

Why did the regular BSA have a problem -- many of the troops are sponsored by right wing churches described above and put their sexually immature adults into leadership

And of couse the BSA kept these vile crimes secret for so very long - utterly criminal.

The vast majority of abuse happened before any of the current youth protection guidelines and screening where in place.

Currently the largest problem with youth safety is abuse to youth by other youth, even before the new policy.

My real issue is that most parents would not put boys and girls together in the same tent. Why would you put a boy attracted to another boy in the same tent. The current policy says that unless the parent of the homosexual boy request separate sleeping arrangements the Leaders can do nothing.

I will not put my daughter in the same tent as a boy, I will not put my son in the same tent as another boy that is attracted to him. This is not homophobia, this is common sense.

If you disagree with that then your part of the reason we have dozens of pregnant girls in High School.

@FrankDorka And most of the BSA cases occurred back before the country as a whole recognized the problem of child abuse in many venues in the in the mid 1980's with the Martin Pre-School case.

BSA then became a leader in educating people about Youth Protection and creating barriers to it through its Youth Protection Plan, developed in conjunction with the FBI in the mid -1980s, and cited by the US CDc as a program for other youth groups to emulate.

1st keep in this in mind: Trail Life is not a replacement to BSA, it is a home to those that are leaving BSA because we do not agree with the new membership policy as well as other issues like being $450 million dollars in debt and relying on Corporate dollars to stay afloat.

Trail Life USA was founded with 1200 leaders from 44 states partnered with American Heritage Girls. Both organizations can and are working with several sects of Christianity such as the Catholic Church, conservative branches of Lutherans, Southern Baptist, Assemblies of God, Calvary Chapel. and many others.

AHG started in a living room and grew to 20,000 youth in 18 years by word of mouth alone.

Most likely TLU will match or surpass the current AHG numbers. Both organizations will continue to grow as people see that the overall agenda of BSA is to be open to homosexuals both youth and leaders. The new President of the National Council already said the new membership policy did not go far enough.

Churches who think nothing will change... BSA National fired their lead council of 7 years because he could not legally defend the new policy for upcoming court cases.

Also, Royal Rangers were not a BSA imitator, they were a denominational specific discipleship program with some outdoor elements. They never claimed to be an alternate to BSA.

Stanley, Just a question are you Mormon and what specifically in their principles allows for gays in youth groups? Why do they think that is a good idea. I am not Mormon and Christian but all the Mormon's I've known are intelligent and good people.

I never heard of God hating fags but the bible speaks of Adam and Eve not Eve and Eve or Adam and Adam if you are Christian. Real Christians don't hate gay people. They just believe it is wrong. There is a difference from believing something is wrong and hating people because of it.

@DeweySayenoff Hitler met Baden-Powell in the 1930's and was amazed at what Scouting was. It was no surprise that he blantanly ripped off the concept and then perverted what Scouting was into a twisted program of hate. BP was insulted and really sickened by what he saw, and that was part of the reason he moved to Africa and remained in Kenya until he died.

@JeffreyJohnson@ConnieSchwandt I agree. I think churches and temples are part of the wonderful diversity too, don't you? It's also wonderful that everyone in this country is free to tell others what to teach their children, and the parents are free to accept your advice or otherwise just raise their own children as they see fit, as long as they don't harm anyone or infringe on other people's rights.

@markflickner@FrankDorka Would you allow your son to be in a tent with a boy that HE is attracted to? You never know, especially in this day and age, which of the manliest, macho "all boy" scouts play on the opposite team, so to speak.

@KaySun@Ann_Coultergeist And thanks to what they believed was right they justified slavery as per the bible, hated jews re Christ's death and that formed the foundation for the holocaust., which btw included also 100,000 gays, 400,000 gypsies etc etc

If my son was struggling with the temptation of being attracted to another male why would I allow him to put himself in a situation to make the situation worse?

I struggle with pornography, but because I love my wife I go to great lengths to protect our family. Accountability, lack of access in private area of the home, and so forth.

Just because someone is born with a desire to do something that does not make it right to do. If this were the case then empty the prisons because we have no right to tell others that their actions are morally wrong if it truly what they desired to do.

The problem with the homosexual argument is that it is assuming that a desire one is born with makes the action OK.

Where do you get your standards from right and wrong from?

They have to come from some place.

Public Opinion? Why did we stop the Germans then?

Government? Then Stalin was not wrong for killing millions.

Every where you go in the world stealing is wrong, killing someone is wrong. Why, God wrote his commandments on the heart of all men.

We are all born in sin, Jesus died to forgive you and me for our sins.

@mary.waterton@ChristianPriest How sad are you and your hate that consumes you? I hope your children learn what a horrible person and mother you are. I'm sure they will at some point. After all God put his beloved gay children here to out haters like you that burn in a fire of your own making for all time.

Yes, I am a "homophobic bigot" and I thank you for the compliment. All 4 of my children a champions. Gifted, talented, happy, good morals and not a homosexual or lesbian in the brood. Do you know why? Because no one is born homosexual. It's a choice. I teach my children how to THINK and how to tell the TRUTH from a LIE. Keep your eyes peeled. One of them might end up on the Supreme Court.